Over $100,000 Awaits in Developer Contests

Contests continue to be a great way for API providers to encourage use of their platforms. These contests also quickly increase the number of apps built on a platform, which makes a difference when developers are later assessing potential APIs with which to integrate. Contests can also be a great deal for developers in terms of exposure, as well as monetary compensation. Our list of contests shows that over $100,000 is up for grabs.

We often write about contests, because we know how much developers like them. But we can't provide full coverage of every contest. Below is a list of all contests with deadlines in the next weeks and months.

Instead of cash (or sometimes in addition), companies often provide prizes of different sorts. Gadgets are always popular, with iPads and Parrot AR Drones being popular lately. Also, at least two of the current contests are offering free trips to conferences. Finally, almost every contest offers visibility of some sort. The most notable recent contest going well beyond the press release was Thomson Reuters, which put the four winners of its contest on New York City's Times Square Jumbotron.

You'll find prize information and deadlines at our list of contests and full information at each contest's site.

About the author:Adam DuVander
-- Adam heads developer relations at Orchestrate, a database-as-a-service company. He's spent many years analyzing APIs and developer tools. Previously he worked at SendGrid, edited ProgrammableWeb and wrote for Wired and Webmonkey. Adam is also the author of mapping API cookbook Map Scripting 101.